PlanetCatfish.com

We have a fairly unstocked 125 marine tank at work, with a few damsels, a queen angel...and nothing else. Our wholesaler hasn't gotten anything new for a good while...but I did see some H. seemani cats. Juvies.

I know that these cats are totally marine when they reach maturity. The tank in question has a salinity of 1.016 (don't ask, it's something to do with keeping marine ich down and out, since this tank has problems on this particular side of the building). Would a trio or shoal of these young cats do poorly in marine water, rather than fresh to brackish to marine?

They should be fine if you adjust them gradually to marine conditions (not from freshwater --> marine direct).

Can do. Since these guys do look like sharks to the public's eye, at least when small, they should do great as display animals. And in under two years' time, they'll probably be in the open water exhibit in our new aquarium.

I'd go on a 'hunt' for bigger Arius!

You see it all the time: people buy a cute tiny Arius and it gets bigger and bigger, eats the neons and so on, and then try to sell it/dump it.

No one in your vicinity stuck with a foot-long seemanni wich he needs to get rid of? LFS got a reject from a customer and there's this halfgrown Arius sitting with the mixed Africans and the outgrown Plecos?

If I do a good search on the internet here, I can get a shoal of these within a month or so, all rejected fish looking for a good home in a Marine tank

wich is too bad, cause it's a great fish.

btw they still look kinda sharky when big

Bigger ariid species are difficult to find in the trade, as they are not often exported.

The only other species that one may encounter with some regularity is Plicofollis dussumieri.

UPDATE

This past Wednesday I acclimated six of these cats to the queen angel tank. All survived the acclimation, and are zipping around the 125 looking continuously for food. The 7 domino damsels I added at the same time have also suffered no fatalities.

In great news, the queen angel, who has been alone in the tank for a few months now, seems to enjoy having smaller dither fish around, and is much more active than before. She still comes to the surface for her handfeeding though!